EA spokespeople decline to confirm the layoffs to Kotaku, but they have confirmed them to Joystiq. We did receive, from unofficial channels, what we're told is a copy of the memo that Rory Armes, general manager of EA Canada, sent to remaining employees.

From: Armes, RorySubject: Today at Black BoxImportance: High

A short time ago, a number of your colleagues were asked to attend a session to discuss important news at Black Box. Unfortunately, the purpose of that meeting is to inform those employees that their positions at Black Box have been eliminated.

The rest of our energy and focus for today is solely devoted to the people affected by this news. Rest assured that we will be doing everything we can to treat our affected colleagues with dignity and respect, and help them through this transition. It's a tough, emotional day for all of us, but obviously much more so for those who received the news today.

So we're asking that you take the rest of the day off and leave the studio as soon as possible. This will allow us to meet the needs of the affected employees and put all our resources into helping them through this challenging day.

We will regroup as a team tomorrow morning at 10am in the XXXX Ballroom at the XXXX Hotel, XXXX. The quickest way to access the meeting room is to enter the building from the XXXX.

We know you have lots of questions, but we ask that you save them until tomorrow morning. We'll have a good discussion about Black Box and our future at that time.